Russia’s United Aircraft has conducted the maiden flight of a Yakovlev Superjet powered by the domestically-built Aviadvigatel PD-8 engine.
It took off from the manufacturing facility at Komsomolsk-on-Amur, on 17 March, for a sortie lasting 40min.
The aircraft is a modified Superjet 100 airframe, serial number 95157, which was built in 2018 and originally fitted with the PowerJet SaM146.
It has undergone an engine swap as part of the programme to develop the SJ-100, a version of the Superjet which will feature a greater proportion of Russian-built components.
United Aircraft chief Vadim Badekha says the first flight “opens a new important stage in testing the engine as part of the aircraft”.
Flight tests of the SJ-100 had commenced in August 2023 but the prototype airframe used retained the SaM146 engine, because the PD-8 was not ready.
Badekha says the use of an earlier Superjet 100 retrofitted with PD-8s and other substituted domestic systems will allow the level of testing to be “increased gradually”, and enable checks on the interaction between them.
“This approach will allow us to ensure the necessary certification rates – as well as to work out technical solutions for possible subsequent re-engining of the current flying Superjet fleet,” he adds.
Three crew members were on board the PD-8-powered flight-test aircraft, which reached altitudes of up to 3,000m and speeds of 270kt.
The flight’s captain said the assigned tasks had been fully completed, and that the PD-8 demonstrated stable operation, according to United Aircraft.
“Complete dedication and overcoming of all challenges by the powerplant manufacturer allowed the aircraft to successfully complete its first flight on Russian engines,” says Russian first deputy prime minister Denis Manturov.
State technology firm Rostec’s chief, Sergei Chemezov, says the SJ-100 programme essentially means the Superjet 100 is being “re-assembled from scratch”.
He says the test programme will introduce a third, “fully Russian” prototype in April, also fitted with PD-8s, to accelerate the certification programme.
“There is still a lot of work and many flights ahead,” he adds.
United Engine, which oversees the PD-8 development programme, says the powerplant achieved “good results” and “fully confirmed all its technical characteristics”.
Chief executive Alexander Grachev says the organisation will transfer two more experimental PD-8s for flight tests by the end of March, and is aiming to secure type certification for the engine in autumn.
Some 40 foreign-supplied systems, other than the engines, are being replaced on the Superjet as part of the SJ-100 development – among them avionics, landing-gear components, the auxiliary power unit, air conditioning and fire protection.
United Aircraft intends the PD-8 to be adapted to the Beriev Be-200 amphibious firefighting aircraft.
